Friday, October 19, 2007

Richard Gere Is Moving In With Bono

For the last several days, Your Mama has been reading the myriad and many reports about Richard Gere being seen going in and out of and looking to buy a unit at "PalazzoChupi," the strange and unusual West Village building recently erected by bigger than life artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel.

Interestingly, most reports state that Mister Gere needs to sell his Sullivan Street townhouse before he can buy one of the $10,000,00+ units at the "PalazzoChupi," but that's simply not true. Not only did Mister Gere and his acturusswifey Carey Lowell sell their five floor townhouse in June of 2007 for $12,850,000, New York Magazine (via the Wall Street Journal) is reporting that the Dalai Lama lovin' couple have indeed snapped up on of Mister Schnabel's units which features double-height ceilings, six-foot tall fireplaces, and an earthenware or marble bathtub. No purchase price was revealed, but Your Mama is certain every real estate gossip in New York is digging and clamoring for that number. We'd like it too, of course.

In addition to Mister Schnabel and wifeyOlatz's private apartment and massive art studio, the building includes four additional units in the 14-story pinkish reddish neo-Romanesque-ish tower. If today's reports are true, Mister Gere and Miz Lowell are the third buyer into the building that will also reportedly house financial honcho William J.B. Brady who paid a reported $15,500,000 for a unit, and U2 front man/global do-gooderBono.who has snapped up the penthouse duplex for an unknown, but presumed quite large sum of money.

The building features a communal swimming pool and while we would be mortified to see Mister Schnabel sunning himself in an itty bitty bathing suit, we can not say we feel the same about Mister Gere, whom Your Mama thinks is aging quite nicely, thank you very much.

True, caveman. Which would be perfectly okay if he weren't preaching to others about how they should live their lives.

I have the same question about Yusuf Islam, FKA Cat Stevens. In the name of Allah and Musliminism, if he's given up the worldly trappings of the evil, western, money music machine -- so, like, who still cashes the Cat Stevens royalty checks? Hm?

I live in the neighborhood and i've been inside Chupi. It was during construction, and I only got to see one of the apt's, but the floors, ceilings, fireplaces, etc. were all in place. And regardless of how you feel about the exterior, the interior makes it well worth the price. The most striking aspect is the size -- doorways, patios, ceilings, fireplaces -- everything is HUGE. And the views (city and river) are stunning, even from the lowest floors.